building a better future - Cemex

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assessing our water usage and impacts Through continued engagement with the IUCN, CEMEX has created the basis for a materiality analysis addressing water-related risks and opportunities, and helping define a roadmap toward strong management of water issues. The availability of clean, potable water has become a matter of global concern. Less than 0.5 percent of global water resources are available for human consumption, even as populations continue to grow and widespread water contamination and the effects of climate change further stress supplies. While it is estimated that the concrete value chain represents only 1 percent of global industrial water demand and 0.2 percent of total global water demand, the risks of shortages are increasing. Currently, 9 percent of CEMEX operations are located in officially designated water stressed zones, based on water data from the WBCSD Global Water Tool. In addition, water regulations in many of CEMEX’s countries of operation are now imposing time-limited water abstraction licenses, stricter water metering requirements, and new water-discharge constraints. These developments, combined with increased stakeholder demand for disclosure around water usage, demonstrate the need for proactive management of water resources in our business. To address this challenge, CEMEX worked with the IUCN in 2011 to produce the following deliverables: 1. Setting the Scene, a research document evaluating global water issues, associated stakeholders, key issues of water use in CEMEX’s productive processes, and methods for assessing water impact. 2. A water benchmark to understand CEMEX’s water usage in an industry context, and to assess peer best practices. “It is expected that within two decades, the collective demand of humans for water will exceed foreseen supply by about 40 percent.” — Water Resources Group, 2009 3. A data-gathering template to enable standardized reporting on water usage, metering, watershed conditions, best practices, and local challenges across all of our business segments and operations. 4. Geographical mapping of more than 2,000 CEMEX sites—cement, ready-mix, and aggregates facilities— for comparison with areas identified as water-stressed zones. 5. A materiality assessment, based upon findings of the preceding steps, to gauge and prioritize our water risks and opportunities. The results of our final materiality assessment will become available in early 2012 and will be fully discussed in our 2012 Sustainable Development Report. advancing our waste-reduction strategy Our processes generate waste that is disposed of according to our own standards and the requirements of local regulations. In terms of operational wastes, cement-kiln dust represents the largest amount of waste we produce. We now reuse it in the production process and in other processes. As we follow the waste hierarchy, we seek to monitor, minimize, reuse, and recycle our wastes. The actions we undertake in this area include: • Monitoring of hazardous and non-hazardous waste generation in all our operations • Replacing primary aggregates with other discarded materials (e.g. demolished concrete) • Reusing and recycling, as much as possible, the fresh concrete returned from construction sites < previous 27 next>
During 2011 we carried out a detailed revision of the methodology applied in all CEMEX production sites in our three main businesses (cement, ready mix, and aggregates) to measure waste disposal. In this review we developed a standard way of calculating the figures and we have identified CEMEX operations that were using different criteria or methods. As a result of this review we are restating our figures for both hazardous and non-hazardous waste disposal corresponding to the years 2009 and 2010, so that they can be comparable to those obtained for 2011. The changes we made are not material and they allow us to <strong>better</strong> reflect the reality in our operations. We have reduced our hazardous waste disposal from 50,868 to 39,904 tons during 2011. By business, hazardous waste disposal increased in cement from 14,164 to 15,492 tons, it also increased in ready mix from 1,272 to 1,784 tons and it was reduced in aggregates from 35,433 to 22,628 tons. Furthermore, we have increased our non-hazardous waste disposal from 385,977 to 414,600 tons. By business, nonhazardous waste disposal in cement significantly increased from 66,139 to 96,372 tons, we had a slight increase in ready mix from 313,515 to 315,476 tons and and it was significantly reduced in aggregates from 6,322 to 2,752. The volume of returned concrete material as a percentage of the total volume we delivered was 0.76% in 2011, a slight increase over the 0.73% shown in 2010. Secondary and recycled aggregate used as a direct replacement of primary aggregates (as a percentage of the total volume sold) was 0.27% in 2011, a slight increase over the 0.25% we showed for 2010. 10,964 tons of hazardous waste disposal reduction during 2011 deepening our commitment to biodiversity management In 2010, CEMEX completed a biodiversity scoping study in collaboration with BirdLife International, determining that 131 of its operations are situated in proximity to areas of high biodiversity value. These areas include wildlifeprotection zones, important bird habitats, and other areas of national, regional, and international biodiversity significance. While some facilities operating in these areas have already launched voluntary conservation projects and other activities to address biodiversity issues, CEMEX has committed to establishing comprehensive Biodiversity Action Plans (BAPs) at 100 percent of its active sites adjacent to high biodiversity value areas by 2015 1 . During 2011, CEMEX and BirdLife International worked to meet this goal by creating a standard for the development of BAPs. The standard ensures that individual operations are able to produce, quickly and systematically, their own BAPs tailored to the particular biodiversity values they possess and challenges they face. The CEMEX BAP Standard includes methodologies for the following: • Assessing biodiversity value • Setting appropriate targets for biodiversity management • Developing effective action plans to reach performance goals • Engaging external stakeholders and partners around biodiversity issues 1 As the number of active CEMEX operations can change year to year, there are currently 103 active sites that meet our criteria for BAP implementation. update on El Carmen Through our signature conservation initiative, El Carmen, we continue working to protect a variety of plant and animal species in one of the world’s most biologically diverse regions. With approximately 200,000 hectares of land under management, El Carmen is home to a variety of ecosystems, including riparian areas along the Rio Grande River, Chihuahuan desert lowlands, grasslands, pine-oak woodlands, and high-elevation pine-fir forest. During 2011, the region has experienced a severe drought condition (the worst in the last 70 years for this region), requiring supplemental wildlife feeding and oversight efforts. Fortunately, animal population surveys show stable numbers for the mammals that have been reintroduced to El Carmen, with desert bighorn sheep maintaining a population of 200, mule deer 900, and pronghorns 95. One of the main objectives of El Carmen is to educate, share knowledge and cooperate with our neighbors. El Carmen staff members offer workshops to local communities and landowners on avoiding conflicts with black bears, and in 2011, provided support to the Mexican government in efforts to control a wildfire and rescue wildlife in areas near El Carmen. Each year, an average of two research projects are conducted at the reserve. In 2011, El Carmen supported the completion of two Master of Science research projects, the results of which will be used to inform <strong>future</strong> wildlife conservation activities. To learn about El Carmen, visit http://www.cemex.com/elcarmen/default.asp < previous 28 next>
Page 1 and 2: uilding a better future 2011 SUSTAI
Page 3 and 4: about CEMEX Founded in Mexico in 19
Page 5 and 6: to our stakeholders: Sustainability
Page 7 and 8: CEMEX sustainability vision and mod
Page 9 and 10: priority 1 lead in sustainable cons
Page 11 and 12: challenges ahead: As CEMEX introduc
Page 13 and 14: WE SEEK TO University Library in Sp
Page 15 and 16: priority 2 affordable housing and i
Page 17 and 18: To address these challenges, CEMEX
Page 19 and 20: Additional resources > UN-Habitat >
Page 21 and 22: our approach CEMEX operates in an e
Page 23 and 24: long-term impacts of emissions redu
Page 25 and 26: priority 4 excellence in environmen
Page 27: CEMEX reports zero Category 1 1 env
Page 31 and 32: priority 5 high priority to health
Page 33 and 34: In 2011, the CEMEX Sustainability C
Page 35 and 36: priority 6 strengthen local communi
Page 37 and 38: Colombia opens a new Productive Cen
Page 39 and 40: priority 7 partnership with key sta
Page 41 and 42: our global workforce customer satis
Page 43 and 44: esponsible sourcing Our Supplier Su
Page 45 and 46: Board of Directors Audit Committee
Page 47 and 48: We also launched communication effo
Page 49 and 50: our performance in detail 2009 2010
Page 51 and 52: 2009 2010 2011 Waste Management 1 T
Page 53 and 54: 2009 2010 2011 Partnership with Key
Page 55 and 56: advisory panel members and statemen
Page 57 and 58: GRI application level check < previ
Page 59: Panama Canal. 500,000 tons of cemen

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